Aberdeen 0 - 0 Kilmarnock: Craig Brown admits Lionel Messi would have struggled in turgid affair

IF THIS game had been live on TV if would have been a punters dream as they could just have reached for the remote control and turned over. Sadly, for the 8,324 who paid their hard-earned cash and braved the sub-zero conditions to watch on, that was not an option. It was that bad.

Sadly for Aberdeen star Mohamed Chalali, this wasn’t the day for a poor 90 minutes, with Algeria boss Vahid Halilhodzic making a special visit to see the striker in action.

“It wasn’t Chalali’s best game,” admitted Aberdeen boss Craig Brown. “But I hope that the Algeria coach would take into account that the supply to him just wasn’t there.

“Even if we had Lionel Messi up there he’d struggle to feed off the passing that was being made.”

As always, Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels offered his own philosophical perspective on a game that won’t have fans reminiscing for days, let alone years.

He rightly pointed out that both teams did make attempts to play football but added: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People who really like football will have enjoyed some aspects of the game but others will point to the fact that very few chances were made.

“It is an entertainment industry and by definition the lack of goalmouth action meant it wasn’t an entertaining game for some people. It was a game that needed a goal to give it a spark and we didn’t get that.”

Very few players showed the drive, determination and daring to take a grip on this game.

Chances? What chances? Jason Brown in the Aberdeen goal could literally have popped open a box of Cubans and puffed on them for 45 minutes for all the stress he was under in the first period.

Not that Scotland squad star Cammy Bell was much more troubled. After dealing confidently with a long-range drive from Chris Clark on nine minutes, Bell sat back and watched Aberdeen’s attempts to create without getting a touch of the ball.

One such attempt came on 30 minutes as Mark Reynolds went on a mazy run from the edge of his own penalty box, past four Kilmarnock stars, before being robbed of the ball by Zdenek Kroca on the edge of the penalty box. Reynolds was denied the chance to pull the trigger on that occasion and Fraser Fyvie was blocked in his attempts just before the break. This time, Fyvie did get a shot away but Hay got the full width of his body behind the ball to cannon it past for a corner kick.

Reynolds was the one providing the creative spark after the restart and he was again allowed to drive at the heart of the Kilmarnock defence. This time no-one was able to prevent him from having a shot on goal but his 18-yard effort skidded wide.

At the other end, Danny Racchi had his side’s first tangible attempt on 50 minutes when a low strike almost squirmed through the legs of Brown.

We then had a bit of touchline drama as a Paul Heffernan tackle on Ryan Jack sparked a furious response from the Aberdeen bench.Unstripped Dons sub Josh Magennis pointed the finger at Heffernan who pushed him away in full view of referee Calum Murray. Murray called over both players for a stern word but decided against any further punishment.

The game had more spirit about it now and it seemed like we were on the brink of seeing a goal. That so nearly came, against the run of play, for Kilmarnock as Racchi controlled the ball inside the 18 yard box and made an audacious attempt to lob Brown with the ball hitting the roof of the net.

With the clock ticking, Dons star Rory McArdle then flashed a header wide from a Fyvie corner. Kilmarnock then had one late chance to snatch it as Dean Shiels set up Heffernan. The Irishman galloped in on goal but was blocked by the on-rushing Brown.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen)

Has taken to his new club like a duck to water.

TALKING POINT: Kilmarnock could realy have done with signing target Derek Riordan.

Referee: C Murray. Attendance: 8,324